"A joke repeated twice ceases to be a joke. The situation in 2008 cannot be
compared to the situation in the 1990s."
MP Ján Podmanický of the governing Smer-SD party, commenting on the protest by the main Slovak newspapers against the draft press code. On Thursday, March 27, the newspapers all published an otherwise blank cover page featuring only a list of "Seven sins of the Press Code". The media used this form of protest against government proposals twice before - during the Vladimír Mečiar government in the 1990s.